


Can you help him?

by NoMatterTheOceans



Series: Feysand Holiday Fluff Fest [11]
Category: A Court of Thorns and Roses Series - Sarah J. Maas
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-11
Updated: 2019-12-11
Packaged: 2021-02-26 16:48:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,237
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21711592
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NoMatterTheOceans/pseuds/NoMatterTheOceans
Summary: Part of my Feysand Holiday Fluff Fest!!Prompt: i found a cat shivering in the snow and you’re the cutest vet i’ve ever seen
Relationships: Feyre Archeron/Rhysand
Series: Feysand Holiday Fluff Fest [11]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1552855
Kudos: 70





	Can you help him?

Rhys really liked his job, but working on Christmas eve sure sucked.

Not that he had any better plans. Azriel and Cassian were working too, Mor was spending the evening with her girlfriend’s family, and Amren had laughed at his face when he’d suggested having dinner together for the holidays. So yeah, working at the animal clinic for the night wasn’t too bad, but still, he was alone, and the only movies on TV were Christmas related, comedies about families and lovers spending the holidays together.

So here he was, watching TV idly, his feet up on the counter, when the door to the clinic opened. A woman entered, a small charge in her arms, and he was on his feet immediately. She looked up at him, and he barely took a second to register her beautiful features before looking down at her arms.

She was holding a kitten in her hands, pressed against her chest, and it was shivering violently against her.

“I found him in the snow one block down. He’s shivering and his heartbeat is really slow… I didn’t know what to do.”

“Okay, follow me, we need to warm him up.”

They rushed through the door into one of the examination rooms, and Rhys immediately looked for blankets in the closets.

“Should I put him on the table?”

“No, keep him against you.”

“Do you think you can help him?”

“I think so but… Damn it, where are all the blankets?”

After another minute of fruitless search, he got back up and, looking back at the woman’s face, the helplessness in her eyes, and the shivering package in her arms, he went to them and took off his woolen sweater, arranging it as best he could to make a nest inside it.

“Give him to me.”

She approached and slid the kitten into his arms, in the heart of the wool. The kitten started to crawl out at first, clearly wanting to go back to her arms, but he was very slow, and Rhys wrapped the sweater tighter around his body to keep him warm.

“Will it be enough?” Her voice was laced with worry.

“I don’t know. Normally, we have heated blankets conceived for this kind of hypothermia, but I can’t find them. I’m not sure my sweater will be enough.”

Immediately, she took off her jacket and her own sweater, a very tacky Christmas-y sweater but who seemed very warm, and they added it around the cat. His head was still peering out, and Rhys could see how frozen his ears looked like.

“We need more heat. His body is redirecting heat to help his core organs, and his paws and ears are getting too cold. Come on,” he led her out the door and they went into a smaller room, where he turned up the heat as much as he could. Meanwhile, the woman had taken off her scarf and she handed it to him.

“Thanks,” he said, and laid it on top of the rest to cover the kitten’s head. Then he sat down near the heating, and held the kitten as close to his body as he could. The woman slid down beside him and came closer, and she rested a hand on his shoulder to look down into his arms.

“Do you think he’ll be alright?”

“We’re going to have to keep him warm for a while, but he should be okay.”

She let out a sigh or relief, and he turned to her, suddenly, becoming very aware of the closeness of their faces. He took in her worried, beautiful eyes, and the messy way her hair framed her face, and he let a smile bloom on his lips.

“You did good bringing him here.”

A ghost of a smile appeared on her lips, and she looked back down at the little bundle of wool in his arms, moving it aside slightly to take a look at the cat, whose shivering seemed to have slowed down a bit.

“I’m Rhysand, by the way.”

She looked back up. “Feyre. Sorry, I didn’t even introduce myself.”

“It’s okay, we were in a hurry. I just figured, since we seem to be cuddling together now, we might as well know each other’s names.”

He didn’t know that woman, and flirting might be a very bad move, but he couldn’t stop himself. And she didn’t look offended. Instead, she laughed.

“Well, maybe all of this was just an elaborate plot to cuddle with a cute veterinarian.”

He raised an eyebrow and faked to be scandalized. “Miss, I am appalled by your assumption that I would give away my cuddles to the first frozen cat who came through that door!”

She chuckled again, and looked back down, this time letting her chin rest on his shoulder. They stayed silent for a moment, until finally, he asked.

“So, Feyre, what are you doing outside, rescuing stray kittens on Christmas Eve?”

“Nothing too exciting. I went to buy eggnog and I was going back home when I saw him.”

“Do you have guests waiting for you? Family?”

“Nope. Just me.”

“Sorry.”

“It’s okay. I’m not really a holiday person. It’s a bit depressing watching TV and seeing all the holiday movies, but I’m good.”

He chuckled. “Yeah, the programs were kind of depressing tonight, weren’t they?”

“What about you? Working on Christmas Eve?”

“Someone has to.”

“Doesn’t it bother you? You probably had other plans.”

“Not really, no. Plus, if I hadn’t been here, I wouldn’t have been able to help you and this little guy out, right?” He added as he looked down and moved Feyre’s scarf out of the way to look at the cat, who had now stopped shivering and seemed to be simply enjoying himself in the bundle of fabric wrapped around him. Rhys could feel him purr slightly as he moved, and he smiled.

When he looked back up, Feyre was staring at him.

“I’m glad you were the one I ran into.”

He was about to answer when the cat meowed, a screechy little sound that got their attention, and Rhys laughed. “I think our little friend is hungry. I’m gonna get some food and water. Will you hold him?”

***

When he came back, Feyre was still curled up next to the heating, cradling the cat in her arms, her hair roaming freely around her face. He sat back down next to her and set up two small bowls in front of her, one with food and the other with water. Smelling the food, the cat crawled out of the sweaters and walked to the bowls, his tail high behind him.

They watched him eat for a moment.

“So, what are you going to do with him?” Rhys asked her.

“I don’t know. Keep him, I guess? I mean, he doesn’t seem to have anybody, and neither do I, so I’m probably going to take him home.”

“I’m sure he’ll have a great home with you.”

They looked up from the cat at the same time, and found themselves staring into each other’s eyes. Then Feyre blushed and bit her bottom lip.

“I don’t really want to go home right now, though,” she said, and he saw her move her hand to let it brush against his. Delicately, Rhys interlaced their fingers together, and smiled.

Maybe Christmas Eve at work hadn’t been such a bad idea, after all.


End file.
